104. Verse 4. But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity, signifies that they do not make such a life as those lived who were in the church at its beginning, the essential of knowledges. This is evident from the signification of "first charity," as being a life according to the knowledges of good and truth, such as those lived who were in the church at its beginning (of which presently); and from the signification of "leaving that charity," as being not to make it the essential of knowledges; for those who are eager for the knowledges of truth and good, and who believe that they are saved thereby, make knowledges essential, and not life, when yet a life according to knowledges is the essential. But as this essential of the church and of salvation is treated of in what follows, more will there be said about it. Charity is life, because all life in accordance with the precepts of the Lord in the Word is called "charity;" therefore to exercise charity is to live according to those precepts. (That this is so, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in the chapter on Love to the Neighbor or Charity 84-106; and in the small work on The Last Judgment 33-39.) The life of the church at its beginning is here meant by "first charity;" for every church begins from charity, and successively turns away from it to faith alone or to meritorious works. (On which subject, and on charity, see what is shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that every church begins from charity, but in process of time turns away from it, n. 494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689; thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils, n. 1834, 1835, 2910, 4683, 4689; commonly to faith alone, n. 1834, 1835, 2231, 4683, 8094. A comparison of the church in its beginning and in its decline, with the rising and setting of the sun, n. 1837; and with the infancy and old age of man, n. Arcana Coelestia 10134; that the church is not with man until the knowledges of good and truth have been implanted in the life, n. 3310; that charity constitutes the church, n. 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1844, 1894; that the internal of the church is charity, n. 4766, 5826; that there would be one church, and not many, as at this day, if all were regarded from charity, although they might differ in respect to doctrinals of faith and rituals of worship, n. 1286, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385, 2982, 3267, 3451; that worship of the Lord consists in a life of charity, n. 8254, 8256; that the quality of worship is according to the quality of charity, n. 2190.)

4683. 'And he told it to his brothers' means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph's brothers' as the Church which turns aside from charity to faith, and in the abstract sense as things that are matters of faith, dealt with above in 4665, 4671, 4679. In this case the adherents to faith separated from charity are meant because the statement that follows about them hating him all the more means still greater contempt and aversion. The position with that Church is that when it first comes into being its members proclaim charity. But they are led to do so solely on the basis of doctrine and thus of factual knowledge, not of actual charity nor thus of affection or what is in their hearts. In course of time, as charity and affection are blotted out in their hearts they proclaim faith, and at length when no charity exists any longer they proclaim faith alone, saying that this faith without works enables one to be saved. At this point also they no longer call works the works of charity but those of faith, naming them the fruits of faith.

[2] Members of that Church do, it is true, link faith and works together in this way, but doctrine, not life, is the basis on which they do so. And because they do not make salvation depend in any way at all on the life of faith, which is good, only on faith - even though they know plainly from the Word, and their own understanding also tells them, that doctrine is nothing without life, or that faith is nothing without its fruits - they make the saving power of faith depend on confidence. As a result of this they also forsake the fruits of faith, unaware that all confidence owes its existence to the end in view which is life, or that true confidence cannot possibly exist except in good, and that spurious and also false confidence rest in evil. And to set faith and charity even further apart they also declare persuasively that the confidence of only a moment's duration, engendered even in the final moment of life, can save a person, no matter what his life had been prior to that. Yet for all this they know that the life which is his own awaits everyone after death and that each will be judged according to the works he has done in life. These few remarks make clear the nature of faith separated from charity, and therefore the nature of the Church which makes faith essential and not the life of faith. The falsities which flow from this as their fountainhead will in the Lord's Divine mercy be mentioned further on.

4680. 'That their father loved him more than all his brothers' means that [the Lord's Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth] was joined to the Divine Natural - in the proximate sense, to the Ancient Church meant by 'father'. This is clear from the explanations given above in 4675, where similar words occur. The reason why in the proximate sense the meaning is that [the Lord's Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth] was joined to the Ancient Church, and why in that sense 'father' is used to mean that Church, is that in the proximate sense, as stated immediately above in 4679, the descendants of Jacob and therefore the Church that was represented among them are meant by 'Joseph's brothers'. This whole matter has been discussed several times already, but in view of the train of thought that occurs in what follows the main points will be restated briefly here.

[2] The Ancient Church established by the Lord after the Flood was a representative Church. It was the kind of Church in which the external features of its worship, every single one, represented the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense represented those Divine things which are the Lord's own. Every single internal aspect of its worship however had to do with charity. This Church was widespread in much of the Asiatic world and in many kingdoms there. And although differences existed among them so far as teachings about matters of faith were concerned, there was nevertheless one Church because all people everywhere made charity the essential element of the Church. People at that time who separated faith from charity and made faith the essential element of the Church were called Ham. But in process of time this Church turned aside to idolatrous practices, and in Egypt, Babylon, and other places to magical ones; for they began to worship external things devoid of anything internal. So because they departed from charity, heaven departed from them, and in its place spirits from hell came and led them.

[3] Once this Church had been laid in ruins a new Church originating in Eber came into being, which was called the Hebrew Church. This existed in Syria and Mesopotamia, and also among other nations in the land of Canaan. But it differed from the Ancient Church in that it made sacrifices the essential requirement of external worship. It did, it is true, acknowledge charity as the inner substance of worship, but not so much with the heart as the Ancient Church had done. This Church too became idolatrous.

[4] At length the Lord was pleased to establish a new type of Church among Abraham's descendants through Jacob and to introduce among that nation the external features of the worship of the Ancient Church. But that nation was the kind that could not accept anything internal constituting the Church because their hearts were utterly opposed to charity. For this reason no more than what was representative of the Church was set up among that nation. From this it is now clear that 'Jacob's sons' or 'Joseph's brothers' in the proximate sense means that kind of Church, and that 'Jacob their father' means the Ancient Church. Furthermore, in many other places in the Word, especially the prophetical part, 'Jacob' is used to mean the Ancient Church, in addition to which this Church - the Ancient - is frequently called 'father' or 'mother', 'father' to refer to its good and 'mother' to its truth. From this it is now evident that 'their father loved Joseph more than all his brothers' means that the Lord's Divine Truth was joined to the Ancient Church.